With two parts of the exams passed, Ash patiently waited for the last one.
Both hands were in his pockets as he casually maintained his intense gaze on the judges, all of whom were already panicking.
Against all odds, he, Ashfelt Zephyr, had displayed fantastic results—not only in one, but the two phases of the Exam. The men who sat before him were already beginning to see that their previous estimation of the boy was flawed.
He wasn't the loser they all thought he was, and he had proven it.
Unfortunately for them, it was too late to change the content of the Exam, and making things even more difficult than they were would be against Academy Policy.
They could end up in deep trouble, perhaps even lose their jobs as a result, and the man who put them up to this—Gerard Lockwood—was not going to be able to save them.
Even if he could, none of them believed he would.
That was how cruel he was.
"Excuse me, may I ask what the last portion of my Exam is?" Ash finally broke through the silence with his words.
This caused the skin of the judges to jump as they finally stopped their nervous conversations and looked in his direction.
They were shook the moment they stared into his eyes.
It was a glowing abyss of crimson danger. It felt like they were being sucked into a blizzard of roaring flames, but the cold smile he had on his cruelly pale face was the perfect opposite of his blazing stare.
All of a sudden, it was now Ashfelt Zephyr that offered them a gaze of condescension.
The judges were in a position of authority over him—able to decide the path he would be able to take for his future—but it didn't seem that way to them.
It almost felt like the opposite; that he was the one in total control.
Like they were nothing to him.
"W-well… the last portion of your exam has to do with Spirit Arts!"
"Y-yes!"
"You need to activate your Spirit Arts… use only the strength of your Familiar and show us how powerful you are as a Mage."
Ash's cold smile slowly vanished as they said this.
Once it did, the judges felt a wave of relief wash over them, and little by little… they began to regain portions of their confidence. After all, even though he passed the theoretical and practical portions of his Exam, none of it would matter if he didn't excel in this part.
'Spirit Arts are ultimately what make up a Mage of the Desgarron Empire.' They thought to themselves. 'A Mage is only as good as his Familiar, and Ashfelt Zephyr has a Lesser Grade Familiar… the worst Grade possible.'
It didn't matter how smart he was, or how physically gifted he was, if his potential as a Mage was this low, he didn't belong in the Akashic Magus Academy. He would be better off as a staff or a soldier on the battlefield, not a student of the most esteemed Magus Academy in the Empire.
This was their line of reasoning, and it was obvious to the boy who watched them.
'Underestimating me again because of my Familiar, huh? Well, I really can't blame them for thinking that way.' He smirked.
A Lesser Grade Familiar wasn't impressive in the slightest, and since Spirit Arts usually depended on the power of one's Familiar—at least at the basic level—it was nigh impossible for him to depict anything impressive with the card he had been dealt with.
If he displayed the power of his Pheonix, he would undoubtedly be able to pass the Exams, but that would only put him in deeper trouble since he lied about his Familiar.
Plus, Apprentice Students could only take one Familiar from The Garden during the Selection Ceremony, and a Pheonix would never share a Soul with another Familiar, so many would be curious about how he could house both the Phoenix and the Lesser Wind Spirit at the same time.
This would undoubtedly reveal the fact that he had two Souls, further causing him to enter even more trouble—one that could cost him his life or worse.
A mere Exam wasn't worth going through all that, so he had no choice but to use his Lesser Wind Spirit.
How was he supposed to pass with just that?
For Ash, the answer to that question was extremely simple.
"[Fusion]."
The Judges couldn't believe their ears when they heard him utter the word, and they didn't take his statement seriously.
Surely, he was grasping at straws at this point.
…. Right?
WRONG!
VWUUUUUM!!!
A sudden torrent of energy coursed through Ash's body, manifesting itself as a swirling storm of wind around him. Bright green colors radiated from his body, and his eyes glowed with the same bright hue.
A portion of his hands took on a whitish green complexion, almost like neon lights.
His feet also transformed into the same.
Winds formed behind him and created two wings, allowing him to ascend in the air—all of this happening as powerful blades of wind danced around him, slicing through the air as he continued his rise to the ceiling.
From his elevated height, he could see the judges gawking at his transformation.
"A-A Fusion? He skipped [Externalization] and went straight to [Fusion]... I-IMPOSSIBLE!"
Ash silently chuckled as he watched the judges unknowingly leak out their thoughts, unable to contain their shock and fear.
'Idiots… this isn't even full [Fusion], but [Partial Fusion].'
Achieving even [Partial Fusion] was still impressive for his age and level, since [Fusion] was usually the limit for most Mages, and a lot of them never even reached that level in their entire lifetime.
Usually, only those at the Expert Stage could comfortably achieve [Partial Fusion], with very few prodigies capable of reaching complete [Fusion].
As for [Externalization], that was the main focus of the Intermediate Stage.
'By natural order, you would have passed [Externalization] before reaching [Fusion], but I bypassed the former and was able to achieve a partial version of the latter…'
The reason Ash took such a shortcut, despite its several flaws, was because he was running out of time and he needed something to undoubtedly prove his worth as a potential student of the Akashic Magus Academy.
'I knew Gerard would try to pull something like this, so I concentrated my efforts on [Partial Fusion]... adding a little bit of flair to it, so it would seem like a complete one.'
Thankfully, it worked!
He was able to perfectly fool three fully-fledged Mages, ensuring they couldn't fail him even if they wanted to.
"Huuu…" He leaked out heavy breaths. 'Looks like this is my limit.'
He slowly descended to the ground, deactivating his [Partial Fusion] while keeping a calm facade on his face—now much paler than it was before.
"Is this enough for you?" Ash asked with a low tone. "Are you entertained?"
His body felt stiff, and he could already feel a wave of nausea hit him, but he maintained his stance as he looked at the judges with a slightly murderous glare.
They were all silent as they watched him—one even gulping loudly, unable to move.
Both sides kept up this staring contest… until the judges finally blinked.
"Y-you pass the third phase, Master Ashfelt Zephyr… and as such, you have passed the Re-Entrance Exam to enter into this prestigious Academy."
Ash leaked out a soft smile.
'I did it!'
"Welcome back to the Akashic Magus Academy."